1. OUR CRIMINAL COURTS AND THE PEOPLE WHO RUN THEM

2.  When a crime is reported it is the role of the police to investigate, collect evidence and charge a suspect. If charged, the suspect will be required to attend court and be tried for the offence they allegedly committed. The accused may have legal representation (barristers and solicitors) to assist in gathering evidence and presenting their case to the court in the most favorable light.  Courts operate to resolve criminal disputes, with each court having its own specific jurisdiction to hear particular types of cases. It is the role of court personnel to ensure that a hearing or trial runs smoothly and fairly and all parties are granted access to justice. A system that provides justice is one that society will have confidence in.

3. KEY KNOWLEDGE

4.  Handcuffed and escorted by police, Robert Farquharson was taken to a waiting police van after being found guilty of murdering his three sons in 2007 (DPP v. Farquharson [2007] VSC 469). The boys drowned when Farquharson drove his car into a dam near Winchelsea on Father's Day, 2005. A jury convicted Farquharson, finding him guilty of his three sons' murders, but this verdict was later to be overturned.  Farquharson first attended a committal hearing in the Magistrates' Court to ascertain whether or not there was sufficient evidence to obtain a guilty verdict by a jury in a higher court. The magistrate found that there was a case to answer and a trial commenced in the Supreme Court with a judge and jury. The Supreme Court hears most serious indictable offences such as murder. FATHER JAILED FOR LIFE APPEALS AND WINS

5.  This case also went to the Court of Appeal and Farquharson was successful in claiming that the key evidence used against him at trial was flawed. Farquharson's conviction was quashed (overturned) and his three life sentences without parole set aside. A retrial occurred in 2010 and a jury once again found Farquharson guilty of murdering his three sons. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a 33 year minimum.  This murder case was heard in three different Victorian courts. Each court has its own specialist jurisdiction to hear certain types of cases.

6.  Each court in the hierarchy exists for a reason and deals specifically with certain types of cases within its jurisdiction.  A hierarchy is a system where people or things are graded or ranked in a particular order. Your school, for example, most likely has a hierarchical system, much like that shown in the diagram below, with the principal at the top of the hierarchy. Courts also use a hierarchy. HIERARCHIES

8. COURT HIERARCHY

9.  While resolving disputes, courts may sometimes make law through the doctrine of precedent. This involves judges following previous decisions in future cases with similar facts. It is a practice whereby decisions of a higher court are binding, and must be followed by all lower courts in the same court hierarchy (binding precedent). This provides some certainty in law made by judges, as lawyers and judges can read earlier cases and make decisions about whether it is appropriate to apply the law established in past cases to the case before them. Without a court hierarchy precedent would not operate. DOCTRINE OF PRECEDENT

10.  The courts are ranked in order of importance according to the types of cases they hear. The courts higher in the hierarchy hear the more serious and complex cases. For example, murder cases are heard in the Supreme Court. The lower courts, such as the Magistrates' Court, hear less serious disputes such as shop theft and traffic offences. It is thought that courts specialising in hearing specific types of disputes develop expertise in the resolution of disputes. This is because the court deals with similar matters on a daily basis SPECIALISATION

11.  In many organisations there is often a method of obtaining a second opinion. The court hierarchy enables any person who is not satisfied with the outcome of a case to appeal to a higher court, to have the case re-heard and the earlier decision reviewed and perhaps changed, provided that there are recognised grounds on which the appeal is based. Appeals can be made on a variety of grounds. An appeal may be made against the sentence itself or the conviction APPEALS

12.  n the case R v. Gavin Maxwell Hopper [2005] VSCA 214, the court referred to previous cases to decide an appeal made by the appellant, Gavin Hopper. Hopper was a physical education teacher found guilty of three counts of indecently assaulting a female student and eight counts of committing an act of gross indecency with a person under the age of 16 years. Hopper appealed against his convictions on a number of grounds, one of which was that the trial judge should not have admitted the evidence of the sexual relationship that occurred after the girl had turned 16 years. THE COURTS REFER TO PAST DECISIONS

13.  The court referred to a number of past cases to determine whether this evidence against Hopper, should, or should not, have been admitted in court. Based on past precedents, the court concluded that evidence of subsequent sexual acts committed after the girl had turned 16 years was relevant, as it suggested that the relationship began in early 1985, when the girl was only 14 years of age, and continued until late 1988. This helped to explain the context in which the alleged offences occurred. The court found it was fair that this evidence was admitted despite its prejudicial nature.

14.  Leave (formal permission by the court) must be granted before a case can be re-heard on appeal. Thomas Towle was charged with six counts of culpable driving in 2006 when a car he was driving hit a group of teenagers walking home from a party. He was convicted on a lesser charge of dangerous driving causing death and sentenced to 6 years jail. Towle applied for leave on the grounds that his sentence was excessive, but his application was refused in 2009 (R v. Towle [2009] VSCA 280). In another case serial killer Peter Dupas's conviction in 2007 for the 1997 murder of Mersina Halvagis was set aside by a two to one majority in Victoria's Court of Appeal in 2009 (R v. Dupas [2009] VSCA 202) on the grounds that the judge made an error. Dupas faced a retrial in 2010 and was again convicted. In both cases the convicted person was required to provide reasons why a retrial was necessary. They had to prove that an error had been made by a judge, a witness, a juror or a legal representative. APPEALS ARE NOT AUTOMATIC

15.  With the Magistrates' Court at the bottom of the court hierarchy and the High Court at the top, cases are distributed according to their seriousness. Each court has its own specific jurisdiction, allowing people to identify the appropriate court to which to take their dispute. The large majority of smaller cases can be heard quickly in the courts at the bottom of the court hierarchy. The aim of such processes is to increase efficiency in the court system by streamlining the hearing of cases and directing them to particular courts in order to reduce both costs and delays. ADMINISTRATIVE CONVENIENCE

16.  t is the role of the court to determine if an appeal is warranted. The grounds for an appeal are against the:  conviction based on a question of fact  conviction based on a question of law  severity of the sentence.  In some circumstances a person may continually launch appeals or court actions for what seems to be no sound reason. These persons may be declared vexatious litigants by parliament and have their right to an appeal or a court action severely restricted.

17.  Between 2001 and 2003, mass murderer Julian Knight launched 13 legal proceedings with the court system which cost Victoria around $230 000 in wasted time and legal costs. In 2003 he was declared a vexatious litigant and can only start a court action or appeal if a judge decides his case has merit and a reasonable chance of success. In 2011 Knight launched legal action in an effort to have himself placed on the path to parole.

18.  Explain one or more area/s of civil law, and discuss the legal system’s capacity to respond to issues and disputes related to the selected area/s of law.  Task  Report (written, visual/oral or multimedia)  This task will be marked out of 130. It will contribute 100% of the marks allocated for this outcome.  Your teacher will advise you of the exact time-frame for this task. However, if set at the end of the unit, you should be given between 5 to 7 lessons to complete this assessment.  Time in and out of class will be used for this task at your teacher’s discretion. Your teacher will advise you of any variation to these conditions. OUTCOME 3

19.  General  The following task allows you to demonstrate the development of your knowledge and skills in Legal Studies. In this task you will undertake an investigation and prepare a presentation relating to Unit 1, Area of Study 3: The Criminal Courtroom.  The Nature of the Task  You have been asked by a leading Community Legal Centre to develop a presentation which will be provided/ shown to first time offenders soon after they have been charged.  Audience  The majority of the audience will be in their late teens to early twenties – all will be going through the adult criminal justice system. Be aware of your audience – ensure the information you have is correct, relatable and easily understood.  Purpose  The idea is to provide them with an overview of the process they are about to go through. The focus of your presentation is to be upon the following: processes of resolution of Criminal Cases how well these processes allow justice to be fulfilled. TASK

20.  Form  Your presentation can take any of the following forms: An oral presentation A PowerPoint (or similar) presentation A brochure  A video Any other forms you can think of (a website etc) as negotiated with your teacher.  Note: Be aware that your teacher may choose to have the class work in one specific form and/or may turn down requests for forms where presentation time and/or resources required may not be feasible.  Length  The task, a report (written, visual/ oral or multimedia), has a range of activities that require you to undertake research using textbooks, library resources and/or the internet.  Your research findings will be used to write your report, which should be the equivalent of approximately 1200–1500 words in length. If done as a PowerPoint, this will equate to 30 or more slides (depending upon the amount of information per slide). If done as a video, approximately 8 minutes. However, the key guide to length is ensuring that you have addressed all of the questions. TASK CONTINUED…